the n word: on its way out?

[Charles Doyle]

It's interesting how "negritude" (OED, since 1949), borrowed from the French, where it would be pronounced [nE-] or possibly [ne-], now seems to compete with the much older and less "proper"-sounding "nigritude" (OED, since 1651), [nIgr at t(j)ud]. Oh the difference an orthographic "e" can make!

--Charlie
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